Spicy Pumpkin and Split Pea Soup Reviews

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users rating3/4

Changed the first course of my menu plan for a dinner honoring a dear friend hanging up her wings after a long career in the air. We had 10 diners total so I doubled the recipe with mixed results. Like many I made changes to the recipe, some due to neccessity, some due to convenience. I never peel squash to boil them. Always roast whatever gourd and roast the flesh. Roasted a sugar pumpkin cut in half for one hour while simmering the onion/pea mixture the night before dinner to get a head start. The next day, about two hours before dinner, I decided to rewarm and blend the soup. Despite using 5 quarts of broth & 3 cups of peas with a whole roasted pumpkin the soup was far too thin to serve. There was no way or time to roast another pumpkin and the nearest bag of yellow split peas being about an hour away I looked in the pantry and found lentils. I put in a cup and it was the best decision of the night. Simmered them for 45 minutes, reblended and it was amazing. As for the spices, I probably quintupled them if not more. I know that I added at least two tablespoons of ginger and kept adding until it was where I wanted. Absolute hit. Personal opinion is that this is probably a three fork made as directed which is where I rated it. Made with these modifications it's definitely a hit. One of our diners, a flight attendant co-worker of our friend remarked that you could easily find a soup of similar texture and flavor in virtually any Middle Eastern country, pair it with a simple bread and make a meal of it. Definitely try this recipe.

2 forks to the as-is recipe because it was a bit bland, as others have mentioned. However, I made a few tweaks the next time around and it was great:
Sauteed onion and minced garlic first, then added the rest of the listed ingredients (except for the ginger and saffron). Used only 5 cups of broth. Added cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, tumeric, and fresh lemon juice. Lastly, used 1 can of pumpkin puree instead of whole pumpkin. Great soup in a pinch!

Made it once as suggested and it was OK but really bland and a little time consuming. Made it again with some modification.
Made a French Onion soup base, added lentils, rosemary, tyme and sage, cooked for 1/2 hour till lentils tender. Added some dried mushrooms to the onion soup base. Then put in a can of puree pumpkin, served with croutons on top. Got rave reviews from everyone that tried it. Also, al whole lot cheaper without the saffron that I couldn't taste in the soup anyway.

Wow. I cannot believe the high rating for this soup. I could tell it would be bland before I started making it, but no amount of doctoring could turn it into something edible. Roasted the pumpkin, sauteed onion, added I have used this website for years, but I registered for the first time today because this recipe was so bad I had to comment. Complete waste of time and ingredients.

A Cook from Pittsburgh: the source of your confusion is a result of the fact that no one who raved about this recipe actually made this recipe. For the millionth time, people, PLEASE review the recipe, not something that you made up that vaguely resembles the recipe. Having said that, I do think that some of the suggested modifications sound good, and I agree that something is lacking in the soup as the recipe is written. I added hot sauce to mine and it helped, but red pepper flakes or cayenne might have also worked. I'm also confused as to how the authors of this recipe thought that it was 'spicy.' I think that part of the problem is typical Self silliness. For example, why would you add onion to the liquid, as opposed to sauteing it a little bit to get some more flavor. If the recipe calls for adding oil to the recipe, anyway, why not add it there? I roasted my squash before adding it in an attempt to get more flavor, and I think that it probably helped. I'll most likely end up eating most of this soup, but next time that I want a squash soup, I'll use another recipe.

Even though I doubled the spices, this "spicy"
soup was so boring I almost fell asleep tasting
it! I should have known better - it's from SELF
magazine, rather than one of the legitimate
food magazines on this site, and though I LOVE
ginger, cinnamon and saffron (what a waste of
an expensive ingredient!), none of them exactly
qualify as "spicy". There are so many better
savory pumpkin soups and even traditional split
pea soups on this site that you can make
healthful without sacrificing taste. I'm just
stunned that so many Epicurious users, whose
tastes I normally trust, raved about this lumpy,
bland pile of glop. If it weren't so ugly, I'd be
tempted to bathe in it - it's warm, there's so
much, and it's certainly soporific!

Have made this soup twice now, with
slight variations and love it - has
a rich and surprisingly creamy
taste. First time, used a whole
pumpkin - cut it in half, baked it
and then scooped out the flesh
rather than chopping up - easier in
my opinion. Second time used a mix
of canned pumpkin and frozen
butternut squash - even easier, but
tastier with fresh pumpkin.
Other variations -
Sauted onion and 2 chopped carrots
in olive oil. Added broth (~8cups)
and lentils (rather than split
peas). Omitted saffron, but added
1/2 tsp curry powder and a dash of
chile powder.

What a great way to use butternut squash. I used Moong dahl lentils and cooked in a crockpot overnight instead of a pressure cooker. I added an entire piece of fresh ginger, sliced, (about 4") and that made all the difference. I added 1 can of coconut milk with lots of chicken broth. I also added a whole cinnamon stick, indian spices like cumin, tumeric, paprika, and thai chilies (which really balanced out the sweet squash.) The key aromatic ingredient I used was several kaffir lime leaves. When I took it out of the crock and stirred, some of the pumkin mixed with the lentils, but I still had some chunky pieces. It was so aromatic, sweet, and spicy. Wow!